2 deputies in Apple Valley beating caught on video take plea deal

SAN BERNARDINO >> Two former San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies accused within the beating of an Apple Valley man that was captured on reside tv pleaded no contest Monday to disturbing the peace.

Michael Phelps and Nick Downey have been sentenced to at least one yr of probation lower than every week after a jury returned deadlocked on a choice of guilt or innocence of the 2 former deputies.

After two days of deliberations, the jury, earlier than a packed courtroom, discovered Charles Foster responsible of 1 felony rely of assault by a public officer beneath the colour of authority on Francis Jared Pusok. Foster faces as much as three years in county jail when he’s sentenced April 28 earlier than Decide Dwight W. Moore.

“After reevaluating the proof and studying that the jury was hopelessly deadlocked, there isn’t a affordable probability that one other jury would be capable of attain a verdict,” District Lawyer Mike Ramos stated. “It’s time to transfer ahead. I’ll reiterate what I’ve stated all alongside, that the actions of those defendants shouldn’t tarnish the badge of the hardworking women and men of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Division.”

On April 9, 2015, Downey and Phelps have been the primary deputies to detain Pusok, a repeat felony offender who had stolen a horse throughout an hourslong chase and rode into steep and rugged desert terrain between Apple Valley and Hesperia earlier than falling off the horse and being felled by a dart from Phelps’ Taser.

An NBC information crew, hovering eight,000 ft above in a helicopter, recorded video of Phelps and Downey swooping down on Pusok, punching and kicking him repeatedly whereas yelling “Cease resisting!” A number of extra deputies arrived on scene and assisted in detaining Pusok, and whereas their actions additionally got here underneath scrutiny by the District Lawyer’s Workplace, they weren’t charged with any crimes.